I should probably have started a tread on the build earlier, but rather late than never I guess. I will also duplicate some of my initial pics just to keep the whole thing together.
The weekend I cast the insulation floor. You will see I only did the main circle. I planned to do the mouth as well, but in the final levelling of the floor which I did same time, I ended up going thicker than I planned & did not have enough vermiculite. Fortunately I read many comments re the option to insulate the mouth or not, so I rather finished the whole thing at the same time than to try to add another bit of vermiculite later.
In the pic you will see that I have only got the brick inner walls built and that the outer stone work is still coming. The pic with the floor cast is taken from the north west while the other two pics are from the south, so if you see 2 very dissimilar doors in the different pics, it is because there are 2 doors
The area below the oven is split by a dividing wall. The door under the oven mouth (the oak door) is for wood storage only (door to keep snakes out). The steel door is where I want to lock the batteries of my solar electricity away.

Thanks! Glad you like it.
One bonus of africa is that the weather is often nice enough to spend the evening out with a nice fire and the milky way :-)
That space is my shrink - by day to toil with my tools/toys and by night to chill

I managed to get the floor in this weekend. I am quite happy with it for may reasons.
1. not too shabby for 2nd hand bricks that were lying around since the seventies.
2. I only had a few of the large squares and they were just enough!
3. The side chips & gaps do not look too badly
4. I see no ridges to catch the peel

yes they are. in another thread earlier I was worried about this myself. The bricks came from a Pilkingtons glass furnace which was refurbished in th eseventies. These have been lying around since then in my father in law's possession. The big ones in th efloor are the only big ones I had. th erest is normal brick size.

I work as & when I have a chance. The farm is in BelaBela which is some 120km from my home. I surely hope it will be done before next May! :-)

A weekend full of disappointment and fun.
I built my opening’s first arch and had some supporting loose bricks on the outsides to counter the push-out effect. Next morning, full of enthusiasm took the frame away and admired my nice arch. I then proceeded to take the loose support bricks on the sides away to allow me to start with the first course, but when I moved the support bricks away the whole arch collapsed
Only then did I realise how weak the H40 is! It’s almost like a smooth textured shortbread that just powders between my fingers. I guess that is what you get for being too much in a hurry. I then proceeded to build a part of the layers around the opening to do the support-work and left it. When I get back in a few weeks I trust the curing will be better and I trust the joints to be stronger this time. I will then re-build my arch before progressing with the courses.
The second hand bricks obviously has chipped sides and I did not try to select nice ones as I guess a random selection will spread a more even look throughout the oven. Not the same quality look you guys get with the new bricks, but some character I think.
All in a days learning I s’pose…

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